The Wrack

Wells Reserve, Center for Wildlife, and York County Audubon Society partnered yesterday to offer the third annual Winter Wildlife Day, and 150 people attended! Activities included live animal presentations with non-releasable wildlife ambassadors, tracking walks, face painting, and the creation of plaster track casts, owl window decorations to prevent bird strikes, and binoculars. Snowshoes were available to use on the trails, and hot cocoa greeted visitors when they returned from the outdoors. It was a bustling day with lots of smiling faces!

We had loads of fun with campers this week during school vacation! Both days of Winter Trekkers Camp brought us out on the trails of the Reserve, exploring tracks and scat that wildlife left behind, searching for camouflaged rabbits, looking into tidepools at the beach, and wearing our scientist hats to test the temperature of varied mini-habitats.

We're inviting experts on climate literacy, climate politics, and practical solutions to climate-change challenges to Mather Auditorium for a series of thought-provoking and action-inspiring lectures. Please plan to join us  and bring along a friend. Follow the links below for details on each lecture.

Valentine's Day. How many lovers committed to one another today, first with a "Will you" and then with a "Yes," launching themselves giddily into an engagement that promises to be filled with joy, anticipation, growth, and bewilderment?

We in Maine don't have much call for marking Groundhog Day. Our groundhogs are lying low before checking for any shadows.

"Quick! In one minute tell the person across from you something you learned in our three-day Climate Adaptation Training that you plan to take back to your community."

Our 40+ participants weren't phased as they blurted out new information they gained from presentations by the NOAA Coastal Services Center and six local speakers on topics like climate change science, creating a vulnerability assessment, planning for adaptation, and communicating these concepts to your community.

For the second time in less than a year, the Town of Wells and the Wells National Estuarine Research Reserve have teamed up to protect a key parcel of land in the Merriland River watershed.

The 61-acre Highpine Properties parcel consists of forested wetlands, vernal pools, and the headwater streams of the Merriland River. The undeveloped tract has 100 feet of frontage on the Sanford Road (Route 109) and is nestled into the 700-acre Fenderson Wildlife Commons, a designated town conservation area. Protecting the Highpine parcel adds to one of the largest blocks of unfragmented conservation land in southern Maine.

It seems like every year, every budget cycle, there's another call to action. Each year, the situation is supposedly more dire than ever. "This is the year when the buck may finally stop here," they say. "We could lose everything this time," they say.

Download a PDF of our winter program calendar and you'll have a ready reference from now through April. Some continuing favorites are joined by new offerings& there's something for everyone. Come back to the website for updates and last-minute additions. Sign up for Monthly Updates or follow us on Facebook for timely reminders.…

Would a neat package stuffed with a fresh Watermark, a daringly long President's letter, and a ready-to-write snow globe card inspire more gifts to the annual fund? Or would it have little more impact than a simple request for year-end donations?